Stirred by the familiar roar of the Enterprise's engines, Cid endeavors to recall his past, but try though he might, he is unable to navigate the dark corridors of his mind alone. But what if he had company? Wielding the power of the Echo, you guide him through a series of forgotten memories, detailing the path that led the once loyal engineer to turn his back on Garlemald and flee to Eorzea. When you finally awake from the visions, Cid triumphantly declares that he remembers everything-- his name, his people, and his purpose. Shortly thereafter, he guides the Enterprise through Garuda's wall of wind without incident, delivering you to the Howling Eye at long last. Speak with Alphinaud before proceeding into the primal's sanctuary.

Alphinaud declares that the end is at hand-- be it Garuda's or your own. Strike ffear into the hearts of beastmen across Eorzea by defeating the Lady of the Vortex.

The Howling Eye can be accessed via the Duty Finder.

Amidst the whirling winds, you succeed in striking down the Lady of the Vortex, only to see her rise once more, reinvigorated by the belief of her Ixali disciples. Yet the beastmen's prayers come to naught when Garuda's attempt to temper you fails, prompting a mysterious force to tear a Crystal of Light from her breast. It is at this moment that Gaius van Baelsar enters the fray, seemingly bent on goading the defeated primal into one final act of defiance. Garuda duly obliges, slaughtering her captive kobolds an Amalj'aa whose cries of agony serve to summon their own patron deities. As Garuda prepares to consume the aether of her lesser brethren, the Black Wolf calls forth an unknown imperial weapon which summarily dispatches and seemingly absorbs all three primals. Wholly unprepared to face this awe-inspiring new foe, you have no choice but to flee for your life.

Safely back aboard the Enterprise, with the imperial forces now fast-diminishing specks upon the horizon, Cid and Alphinaud begin to discuss how to address this grave new threat. Believing the best course of action is to reform the Scions of the Seventh Dawn, they decide to return to the Waking Sands. Having safely arrived in Ul'dah, speak with Alphinaud prior to continuing on to Vesper Bay.

Alphinaud reiterates that the beast tribes and their primals are no longer a threat, and that all efforts must now be focused upon destroying the Empire's ultimate weapon. But having seen what you have seen, it is plain that this task will ask far more of you than any you have undertaken thus far. For Eorzea's sake, you must hope that you are up to the challenge.

Unlike Ifrit and Titan, who summoned a minion that had to be swiftly destroyed to reduce the damage of their most powerful attacks, reducing the damage from Aerial Blast requires you to keep the stone pillars in the middle of the arena intact. This will require the entire party to work together from the very start of the fight.

The stone pillars take damage from any AoE attacks Garuda does. To mitigate this, the tank should tank her at the edge of the arena (such as where she starts) and face her AWAY from the middle. This will keep Wicked Wheel, Downburst, and Slipstream from damaging the pillars (And the rest of the party). The healer and any ranged DD should attack from Garuda's side, and should avoid standing next to any pillars due to Garuda's Friction attack, which targets a random party member and hits the area around them.

Eventually, Garuda will fly up into the air and come down for her most devastating attack, Mistral Song. She will always land either where the fight began, or on the direct opposite side of the arena. The goal is to place one of the pillars between you and her, in which case you will avoid all damage. If you fail to do this, Mistral Song will most certainly kill you, as it hits for several thousand damage.

Shortly after her first Mistral Song, Garuda will summon several Razor Plumes. These will fly over to the pillars and blow up after a short while (Using a move called Featherlance). Taking these out is the biggest priority for any damage dealer. For most it's fairly straightforward, attacking them with AoE if possible. Arcanist and Summoner have the most difficulty at this phase, as they lack burst damage. However, if they've done a good job of keeping Bio, Bio II, and Miasma on Garuda, they can use Bane to inflict it on most of the plumes, and all three debuffs will likely be sufficient to destroy the plumes.

After two rounds of plumes, Garuda will warp to the center and summon one last batch of plumes to destroy the pillars. These will spawn around the edge of the arena, and so will be more difficult for arcanists to destroy. Once the plumes are either defeated or blow up, Garuda will warp to the center again and use Aerial Blast. As with Mistral Song, players should hide behind pillars to reduce damage. However, the damage reduction is based on the TOTAL number of stones remaining on each pillar, not just the one you're standing behind. This means you can't just focus on protecting a single pillar to survive the blast, and also that there's no difference between hiding behind a 1-height pillar and a 4-height pillar.

After Aerial Blast, Garuda will begin her second phase. She will create a damaging tornado over the entire field, except for a small area around her, essentially decreasing the size of the stage. At this point it's imperative that the tank drag Garuda to one side of the arena so the healer and ranged DD do not get killed by Wicked Wheel.

Her attacks stay the same for the most part with two major changes: Her plumes will now chase after party members and blow up, and can actually be safely ignored (especially if the DDs can self-heal). She will still use Mistral Song, but dodging it is a little different without the pillars. If she warps to the middle, players have to get behind her. If she warps outside the arena, players need to get on the far edge of the calm away from her. It's helpful to note that if she warps outside the calm, she will only ever warp to one spot, where there's a stone "throne" of sorts. So if she doesn't warp back to the middle, just run away from the throne.